LEICESTER— When Jane Desrosiers went to the police station to identify the man she believed robbed her as she worked at a gas station Monday night, she was stunned to see his bloodied face, she said.
“I said to the woman who was with me, ‘I wonder if I did that,’ ” Mrs. Desrosiers said from her home last night.
The alleged robber, Steven A. Mandella, 38, of 10 Eames Drive, Auburn, had a gash over his eye, blood on his face and bruises on his chest, she said. The 5-foot 3-inches tall gas station attendant believes the cut came from a blow she delivered with the United Gas station’s telephone, which she had picked up to call for help just as the confrontation was beginning.
“I whaled at him with it a couple of times,” she said. “Then he knocked it out of my hand. I hit him with my fists.”
Police said the incident began when Mr. Mandella walked into the Route 9 gas station shortly after 9 Monday night and threatened to blow it up with a bomb he carried in a toiletry bag. There was no evidence of any explosives, and Mrs. Desrosiers, 53, said she never believed the man, telling him, “Go ahead and blow it up. You’ll kill us both.”
When the man demanded money, she said, she took a small amount of cash from her pocket, handed it to him and said, “That’s all you’re going to get. Now get out.”
The small glass booth where she was confronted left little room for escape, with her and the alleged robber inside. She decided to fight back because “he was in my space.”
While she was pummeling the robber, Mrs. Desrosiers was making mental notes about him. She said the only things she couldn’t describe were his shoes.
The man finally escaped by running from the store with the money.
Police said her description was very thorough, and led them to Mr. Mandella, who, with help from Worcester police, was captured within an hour.
Mr. Mandella is being held on $20,000 cash bail and is due back in court for a pretrial hearing March 3.
Asked if she thought she had left a permanent scar on the robber’s face, Mrs. Desrosiers said, “I hope so.”
According to court records, Mr. Mandella was sentenced to 4 to 7 years in Walpole State Prison in June 1998 for holding up the Dairy Haus on Route 20 in Auburn in 1997 with a semiautomatic handgun.
While on parole last February, he was arrested in connection with the theft of guns from a home in Shrewsbury. Information on the disposition of that case was not immediately available.
In December, he was charged in Worcester Central District Court with assault and battery, threatening to kill, and assault with a knife. Those charges were dismissed.
News of Mrs. Desrosiers’ counterattack on the holdup man had the Western Worcester District Court in East Brookfield abuzz Tuesday.
Coincidentally, Mrs. Desrosiers had to be at the court that day to testify in another case — one she helped solve after thefts at the gas station last summer. Police said her detailed description in that instance also helped them crack the case.
In a strange twist, the suspects in that case were found at the same address where police said they found Mr. Mandella — 10 Great Post Road in Worcester.
The former office worker said she loves her job pumping gas at the full-serve station and will likely return to work. Right now, though, she’s taking time off and getting over the stress. Her husband, eight stepchildren and 12 grandchildren are worried about her but proud.
While friends are singing her praises and customers are showering her with flowers, cards and candy, police are warning that trying to fight off a robber isn’t usually the best option for victims.
“It’s not a good idea,” Leicester Officer Steven P. Zecco said. “We wouldn’t condone it because you don’t know what a person’s going to do.”
He advised that a good description of the suspect is the most useful to police. While a victim doesn’t need to stare at a suspect, noting clothing and physical characteristics are crucial.
“It showed that night that it works,” he said, adding that being cooperative is also recommended. “But some (victims) have a little more zap to them than others.”
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